1. Field of Invention
The present apparatus relates to wave energy converters more specifically the buoy-type wave energy converters, also known as “point absorbers” because of their ability to harvest energy from all directions at one point in the ocean.
The average wave seen breaking on the beach has a period of between five and twenty seconds. This means that for every minute that passes, anywhere between 5 to 15 waves will pass any randomly selected point in the ocean. The present apparatus is designed to take advantage of this movement in order to create usable energy or to perform work. It can designed to be mounted on a vessel floating in the ocean or it can be designed to float by its own means
2. Prior Art
There exist today renewable energy sources such as solar energy and wind energy, but the intermittent nature these energy sources makes them an inadequate source of energy for the present-day society. It is for this reason that other methods of obtaining energy have been sought. One of which consists in making use of the steady predictable forces exerted by the waves in the sea, and more specifically the undulations to which these forces give rise
Known at present are various devices and systems for obtaining energy from the sea. But many of these devices and systems such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,248,044, entitled “Apparatus for wave power generation utilizing large mass dynamic energy absorption”, are disadvantage in being fragile. In addition to having many of there moving parts exposed to the corrosive elements and violence of the ocean.
Another no less important disadvantage of many of these current systems is their complexity once they have been assembled. This is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,319,454, entitled “Wave action power plant”. This complexity suggests the need for a high degree of maintenance, which often is not compensated by the energy output obtained. This low yield in the long term can lead to dismantling of the installations which use these systems. The present apparatus is intended to remedy these short falls.